Sleepless in Seattle .....and Portland - Part 2

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A few days ago I blogged about the first two days of our Seattle visit. Here's the continuation.



3rd Day.







Voodoo.




A few years ago I have chanced upon this show on the Food Network about a certain doughnut house in Portland and I remember writing it on my white board at my old apartment so I would remember it.




That place is Voodoo Doughnuts.




left: maple bacon
right: voodoo doll doughnut
notice the pink box
(click image to see the whole photo)




We decided to go to the farthest destination first, which is Portland, where the Voodoo Doughnuts is, before going to Mt. St. Helens. I figured if we do Voodoo Doughnuts last, we might get so tired from the Mt. St. Helens tour and get tempted to skip going to Portland because it's farther. I'm sure glad we did this first.








We left Seattle at 6:45 am and we got to Portland around 9:30 am but the line is long already! We had to wait for almost an hour for our turn but it's worth it. I was looking online what we should order that we can eat right there and we narrowed it down to maple bacon and voodoo doll. I'm not really expecting too much on the maple bacon, I just want to order it for, yep, the bragging rights, lol, but I was surprised that it's actually good! The hubby isn't really thrill about his voodoo doll doughnut either, the raspberry filling is turning him off, but he was surprised too when he took a bite. The raspberry filling and the chocolate frosting on doughnuts go well together.




the signature voodoo doughnutvoodoo doughnuts
waiting to be frosted







We also ordered a dozen assorted to take home with us back to Philly. We just asked them to give us two voodoo dolls and the rest can be anything. By the way, if you plan to bring home a box bring a bag with a wide base to make it easier to carry the box. Try to order 2 half a dozen so the box would be smaller and it would be easier to find a bag (ie: recyclable grocery bag) that you can put the boxes to. Also, it would be better if you have a cooler to store the boxes of doughnuts at least until you're flight back home. Ours got melted and the voodoo donuts looked like it has been massacred, lol.








it already melted when we came back from portland
but it didn't change the taste

(2 voodoo dolls & captain crunch not in photo)




Another tip, even if the doughnut name/flavor sounds weird (like cock and balls, dirt doughnut, tex ass, just to name a few) or the doughnut itself looks funny/disgusting you can't go wrong with any doughnuts that has chocolate, maple or cream frosting. Take the bacon maple for example, the maple frosting is sooo good and the bacon, oddly enough, added more taste to it. Reminds me of champurado and daeng (sweet and salty combination). Anyway, their frostings are really good, you're in good hands. I like the Toasted coconut and Marshall matters too. Click me for more flavors.








saw this while in line for voodoo doughnuts.
i don't know what to make of it, lol





Mt. St. Helen




Originally, we weren't planning to rent a car and we just booked a tour operator who would pick us up at our Seattle hotel and would take us to Mt. St. Helens but they cancelled on us. That tour is $225/pax and called Mt. St. Helens Small Group Tour. The hubby was so disappointed that he went looking for alternatives and he found the Helicopter Tour of the Mt. St. Helens. I wasn't thrilled about it because it's expensive (it's $289/pax) but the hubby insisted and promised me that I would love it and he made a deal on how we can split the cost (like I will pay for the car rental while he pays for this) so I concurred, lol. The hubby booked the "Summit and Crater and Devastated Area" tour which is for 38 to 42 minutes. Here's the tour map of the flight we booked.




The helipad is located at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center. It's also an interesting visitor center with lots of information and videos about what the place surrounding Mt. St. Helen's looks like before it erupted. They also have a restaurant called the Fire Mountaing Grill and it offers good burgers. We were there early because they want us there atleast 30 minutes before our scheduled time for the briefing and paperwork but we got there way too early.







left: approaching mt. st helen, below: flying on top of
mt. st. helen's crater




We were planning to go to the Johnston Ridge Observatory first before taking our helicopter tour but upon calculation, we realized that if we go there first we'll only have 30 minutes there and we had to drive down to Hoffstadt. From where we were (driving from Portland) we'll pass by Hoffstadt Bluffs first, then another 35 to 45-min drive to Johnston Ridge. So we said forget it and just went straight to Hoffstadt Bluffs even if we're 2 hours early. We were half wishing too that we could get an earlier tour (which we didn't). So after checking-in for our tour the receptionist told us they'll call us when they're ready for us so we just sat outside the restaurant (they have lots of tables outside, which we believe is the better place to sit) and ordered food and wine (actually, just soda for me).







Two hours and 15 minutes later we're ready to fly!




Below is the 40-minute video that we chopped off into a 10-minute video. If you just want to see the mt. st. helen crater slide your play bar to 4:17.






GoPro version: Mt St Helens' Helicopter Tour from bluemarlinfish on Vimeo.




It was a very very nice experience. It was my first helicopter ride so I was really nervous. I'm not afraid of heights as long as what I'm standing on isn't moving but the helicopter does and it has a glass floor so it took me a while before I got used to it. I think it helped too that I got distracted with the scenery. Our pilot/tour guide was amazing. We went around the crater 3x times and each time we are closer to the crater than the previous that we even saw steam coming out from the crater.










Next, it's time to finally drive up to Johnston Ridge Observatory. From what I have researched, this has the best lookout point (there are others dotting along the road to the Johnston Ridge). They are open from 10am - 6pm, 7 days a week. There's a fee of $8/pax. Don't miss the free show and try to sit at the very front. I also like the exhibit of the miniature Mt. St. Helen where they show the flow of the landslide, pyroclastic flow, mudslide, ash flow thru tiny lights. It was pretty interesting. You just have to click a certain button to start it. You won't miss the button, it's right around the sides of the miniature mt.st helen and it's big and it blinks.




after the show, visitors flocked to the window


After the show we decided to do a little hiking on one of the available trails at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. We only hiked for almost an hour then decided to head back because it's already 6:00pm and the Johnston Ridge Observatory is already closed plus we want to hit the road early and we want to get back to Seattle before it gets dark.




that's how far we hiked and we haven't even scratched the surface


By the way, do you know you can hike to the crater of Mt. St. Helen? Not inside the crater though because they have a fine of $150 if you did.




the hikers... didn't notice them until the helicopter pilot pointed it out to us

The Mt. St. Helen is amazing but the one thing I really can't go over with and really struck me the most are the trees blown down by the eruption. The direction where all the trees are facing and how you can see them strewn over hills after hills after hills is amazing. That gives you an idea of the vastness of the eruption and the direction of the eruption. As you can see from the photos below, while some of the trees where still standing up, albeit dead, the others are just strewn on the grounds like toothpicks.




Fascinating.




view from the helicopter
hills after hills of tress strewn

on the ground like toothpicks


closer view
amazing how they all face the same direction (upwards/downwards no horizontals)

and yes, these are full grown trees

This reminds me of the Tunguska event in Russia. Where a meteorite exploded in mid-air and knocked over the trees because of the blast. Google for images and compare it with the photos I have above.




Anyway, enough of the nerdiness. There you have it! Seattle and Mt. St. Helen. We wish to go back again some other time and do Mt. Rainier next and maybe hop on a ferry to go to the Tukwila village and maybe cross over to Vancouver, Canada.




Mt. St. Helen crater with
Mt. Adam (or is that Mt. Rainier)

in the background

(click for better image)
inside the crater,
the growing lava dome

of Mt. St. Helen

(click for better image)
view of Mt. St. Helen
from the helicopter

(click for better image)





all photos and videos by yours truly, please do not use without permission.

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